Gas price war pushes cost 70 cents below state average

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CLE ELUM, Wash. -- $3.18 for a gallon of gas has lead to a frenzy at the pump.

"Couldn't believe it. It's so much lower than everybody else," said Cathleen Kingman.

Kingman and her husband are driving from Arizona to Walla Walla. They quickly hopped off the highway to fill up when they saw these prices at two stations in Cle Elum.

"For the tank on this car, it's a lot," Kingman said.

Cars are backed up into the street to get in on the deal. It's the same scene at another station right up the road. Both stations appear to be competing for the lowest prices.

"I believe it's causing a price war in Cle Elum and I'm taking advantage of it," said Greg Denney of Easton.

I spoke to managers at the Warrior Quick Stop who say they get their gas from a private supplier. They shop around for the lowest price and sell it for what they want. The Shell station supervisor says he has a contract with Shell directly and doesn't want to lose business.

"If we have it at four bucks, then nobody will buy here and so we're trying to sell it a little bit cheaper so that people come through," said Sugat Amatya, Shell Station Supervisor.

Their plan could be working. Just across the street another gas station selling gas for $3.69 sits empty. All the different prices in one town has customers like Greg Denney suspicious.

Customers said they feel like they are being taken advantage of.

"Especially when this gas station can drop its prices quite a bit," Greg said.

After months of feeling the pinch, customers finally feel they're on the right side of the pump.

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